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Birds of Chicago with Peter Mulvey

Venue: Grateful Fred's
Town: Formby
Date: 3rd April 2013
Website: http://www.birdsofchicago.com/

Grateful Fred's in Formby keeps on going from strength to strength. They have put on some great shows but tonight's, in my opinion, must surely rank as one of the best of all. This evening we were treated to a superb performance by Alt-Country "Supergroup" Birds of Chicago [hereafter referred to as "The Birds"] together with highly talented singer-songwriter-guitarist Peter Mulvey [who appeared both as a solo artist and as a member of The Birds].

As is the custom, the evening got underway with a set by the Grateful Fred's House Band [coincidentally known as Grateful Fred]. Now expanded to a five piece with the recent addition of mandolin wizard Ged, the band is developing a new identity. Among the eclectic choice of songs tonight was, to the astonishment of Peter Mulvey, "Cheap Bottle Of Wine" by Melvern Taylor. The reason that Peter was surprised was that Melvern Taylor is a friend of his and he never expected to hear a band in Liverpool covering one of his songs. He couldn't wait to ring Melvern with the news!

Other highlights of GF's set were a lovely version of "I'll See you In My Dreams", beautifully sung by Les, with ukulele and mandolin backing from Colin and Ged respectively and a superb version of Nickel Creek's "Out Of The Woods", with some lovely 3-part harmonies.

Next up, for a short set before being joined by The Birds, was Milwaukee singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey. Peter is a seasoned performer, having been on the road for over 20 years and having recorded 15 albums, the most recent of which is an excellent collection of Great American songs by the likes of Tom Waits, Duke Ellington, Willie Nelson, Thelonius Monk, Jolie Holland and the aforementioned Melvern Taylor. Peter performed four songs including the Tom Waits song "Hang Down Your Head" from the Raindogs album. Perhaps the highlight of Peter's short set was "Black Rabbit", a stunning Celtic- influenced instrumental which showed his extraordinary guitar style to great effect. You can see Peter perform this piece in a video on You Tube, which I highly recommend.

Peter remained on stage to take up his role as "hot guitar" player for The Birds, who then joined him.

The Birds is a collaborative project by J T Nero [of Chicago alt-country band J T and The Clouds] and Allison Russell [of Vancouver based band Po' Girl].Last year The Birds released the album "Birds of Chicago" to much deserved critical acclaim [No Depression called it "a heavenly debut album"- which it is].

Tonight The Birds consisted of J T [vocals and guitar], Allison [vocals, banjo,ukulele and clarinet],Peter [guitar and vocals]and Brit drummer Will Waghorn.

The two major features of The Birds are, firstly, their incredible lyrics[ about, for example, moonglow tapeworms and tiny electric seahorses] and, secondly, the stunning harmony singing of Allison and J T which contains elements of country, gospel, doo-wop, blues and soul. Allison is a wonderfully expressive singer and her voice is perfectly complemented by J T's more gritty, rough- hewn, country -soul vocals. It's a great combination.

The Birds played two sets tonight, either side of the Raffle, which, as usual, was for a real ukulele.

As well as songs from their album, The Birds played the first song they recorded together ["Mountains and Forest" aka "The Seahorse Song"] together with some brand new songs, including the beautifully sad "Sparrow" and the written-in-Holland "Kinderspel" ["Child's Play"],which featured some blistering guitar from Peter.

Peter was backed by The Birds on his version of Jolie Holland's "Old Fashioned Morphine" from his latest album "The Good Stuff".

As for the tracks from their superb debut album [which already sounds like a "Greatest Hits" collection] we had the touching "Galaxy Ballroom" [about J T's grandparents] ; the wonderfully joyous "Sans Souci" [which Allison wrote about her first meeting with her biological father in Grenada]; the infectious [in a good way] "Sugar Dumpling" ; the uplifting "Flying Dreams "as well as the catchy, singalong "Cannonball" and the bouncy "Trampoline".

This was a magical performance by a hugely talented band. If you can't get to see them live, do the next best thing and take a listen to their album. I guarantee that it will put a smile on your face !

It was another great night at Grateful Fred's, thanks to all concerned for putting on such a wonderful show.

Peter Cowley
Pics:Neil King(not taken at gig)